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Halsey - Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (Astralwerks)
Released: June 2nd, 2017
Halsey is back with a new full-length album, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. This is her sophomore commercial album and a follow up to her 2015 release Badlands. This is also a follow up to her feature on the song of 2016, "Closer" by The Chainsmokers. Halsey has been at it for a little while now and started catching buzz with her Room 93 EP, which included the hit "Ghost". Halsey gained even more attention when she came out with her commercial debut Badlands, which I enjoyed. It was full of great alt-pop songs like "Hold Me Down" and "Colors". She combines aerial synth-play with modern drum-machine patterns to create these moody and ethereal tracks. Unfortunately, I feel that she falls short on this new project right here.
Heavily inspired by Baz Luhrmann and his interpretation of Romeo & Juliet, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is Halsey's take on his work, specifically in terms of a personal relationship she has experienced. She attempts to apply these real-life human emotions and moments to her own version of a parallel universe (Hopeless Fountain Kingdom). She gives a preface on the first song "The Prologue" which sets you up for the whole record. She discusses this more in depth with Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 show (Click HERE).
As far as the singles on this record, the only one that truly sticks out is "Strangers". With help from Fifth Harmony's Lauren Jauregui, this track discusses the feelings of a lost relationship that has turned once lovers into strangers. The drum beat is so quick and catchy. The background synths play a huge role in this song by giving it some depth and layering. It has a very strong Weeknd vibe and is a solid pop-song, definitely my favorite on the album. The other singles "Eyes Closed" and "Now Or Never" are not too exciting. "Eyes Closed" is very very very boring and repetitive. Halsey tries to make the chorus/beat drop very big but it doesn't work. The song is honestly just a single repetitive beat and a chorus, honestly confused on why she would ever make this a single or even put it on the record in the first place. "Now Or Never" is an OK song but it really doesn't do much for me. She relies on the moody/ghostly reverb effects to carry the song vocally and sonically.
Notable songs on the record include "100 Letters", "Alone", and "Bad At Love". I love the refrain on "100 Letters" specifically the line "I'm not something to butter up and taste when you get bored". This song about a break-up has a very solid build up throughout and is a great track to start off the album. She effectively uses the soul-sounding sample on "Alone" which is another one of my favorites on the album. Halsey shows-off her excellent singing voice on the chorus and then again on the chorus of "Bad At Love". She pours her true emotion and feeling into both of those sections.
Songs that I couldn't stand to listen to were "Lie", "Walls Could Talk", and "Don't Play". I was happy to see a Quavo feature on "Lie" but he added absolutely nothing to the track and was a misused feature. Halsey attempts to do this "half-ass-rap" sort-of thing over this single piano melody on her verse and it just makes me feel weird. She tries to rap again on "Don't Play" where she shows off her 'hard' side and again it just makes me feel weird. Not a miserable 'talk-shit' song until she sings lines like "can't fuck with my vibe, double cuppin' in my ride" or "runnin' lines like a marathon, got it all white like parmesan". It's almost as if she listened to Future once and was like 'oh I can probably do this'. "Walls Could Talk" is a pastiche of late 90's and early 00's girl-group/r&b/hip-hop (Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, etc.). This song is a perfect example of why this era of music should stay where it is and not be re-visted. The songs from that era were awesome and they should stay there.
I honestly hate to say it but this album didn't do much for me. I don't know if she was focusing too much on the concept during the creation of the project instead of focusing on the formatting and structuring of the songs, I honestly have no idea. I feel as she used the same format for almost every song and never really expanded her creative brackets. Outside of the songs I mentioned as my favorites, this is by far her worst project. Personally, I feel Badlands is the better listen, but this album did have some positive takeaways.
I can hear her growth as an artist through this record, specifically through the way she uses her sonics and instrumentation, as well as attempting to write a concept album about an extremely personal situation, which is not a simple feat by any means. You can hear her tracks maturing which allows the audience to gain a better understanding of her sound and what a "Halsey song" sounds like, but there is definitely room for improvement. I feel as though she has an awesome voice, she doesn't use it to the best of her abilities throughout the record. Hopeless Fountain Kingdom was an unfortunate let down that only contained a few solid tracks. I was hoping that this would excite me more than it did. Listen below...
Listen: Halsey - Strangers (feat. Lauren Jauregui)
Rating: 5/10
Fav Songs: 100 Letters, Now Or Never, Alone, Bad At Love, Strangers
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